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Best of 2012: Feature Films and Documentaries

Our final list lets you take a break from all that reading. Find out what our DVD selector Kate thinks are the best and brightest from 2012.

Feature Film and Mini-Series

The Raid: Redemption
An astonishing action film – and when I say action, I mean non-stop “how-did-they-think-of –so many ways -to-fight” action – and it was made impressively on a shoestring budget. The story is creative, but it’s the fighting that will keep you watching. Be sure to watch the special features included in the DVD, as well.

Kinyarwanda
A presentation of the 1994 Rwandan genocide told from a personal level in a way that demonstrates the devastatingly simple and direct consequences of our actions. Though I am familiar with this time in Rwandan history, this film made me understand the conflict as if I were “on the ground.”

Titanic
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. This is an engaging, award-winning mini-series about that ill-fated voyage.

Mysteries of Lisbon
An adaptation from the book and an epic in the true meaning of the word, this a wonderfully detailed treatment of the unfamiliar world of 19th century Portuguese royalty, a story that stretches across three generations. The acting is superb, with many in the cast speaking three different languages. The cinematography is rich with an incredible number of filming locations. A true work of art!

Documentaries

Woman with the Five Elephants
This amazing Kiev-born woman, Svetlana Geier, has accomplished a 20-year, mind-boggling project of re-translating five Dostoevsky novels that she calls “The Five Elephants.” This film tells the story of her life as a literary translator, giving us insight into her painstaking process and also into her life as Russian exile in Germany.

Corman’s World
A tribute to Roger Corman, a filmmaker you may never heard of but who nevertheless is one of the most influential Hollywood personalities. He’s not only launched many an acting and directorial career (Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Dennis Hopper, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Sylvester Stallone, Ron Howard…), but he has also changed the shape of filmmaking in many, many ways.

Into the Abyss: a Tale of Death, a Tale of Life
In 2001 a young man, his friend, and his mother were murdered, apparently because the killers wanted the red Camaro in the garage. One of the killers is on death row; the other is serving a life sentence. Werner Herzog’s characteristic documentary does an admirable job demonstrating the “anguish and absurdity” of killing, “wanton or sanctioned” without being preachy – it’s “rigorously humane…” (quotes from the 11/10/11 New York Times review).

The War Room
President Clinton’s 1992 election campaign concept, dubbed the “war room,” was innovative and set the standard for campaigns to come. In 1992, the Internet was new and had a profound impact on the way the war room functioned. For some, nothing could be more boring than the thought of a documentary about a political campaign, but this is not only a trip back in time, it conveys the intensity of the campaign process and the thrill of the win.